Chart Trouble

OpenCPN 5.2 Dual Chart View not working properly.

    (C:\ProgramData\opencpn\)opencpn.ini:
    [Canvas]
    CanvasConfig=0

* Close O. Set the CanvasConfig like above. Save the change. * Try:

  1. The above a test to “clean up” the -ini file for the new version.
  2. If no success - rename/delete the ini file for a clean first time start up as of your own suggestion. (And, yes, that's a good training to reset all O settings. )

Where are the Chart Buttons "Piano Keys" at the bottom of the OCPN screen?

If the screen view is not in a place where charts are located then it will not show any chart keys. Try zooming out until piano keys show up.

Too many Chart Keys "Piano Keys"?

Check your Options→Display→Advanced→“Chart Zoom/Scale weighting” For most vector chart the level would be “0”. If for example “5” the chart bar will be crowded and poor performance.

Chart Keys - Why and When

  1. Only the charts belonging to the chart “family” viewed at the moment are highlighted.
  2. You've three families; CM93 yellow, ENC green and rasters blue.
  3. I you show CM93 charts neither of the other two will highlight.
  4. If you show a raster chart only other rasters will highlight on mouse over.
  5. The same goes for highlight of ENC cells.
  6. Consequently will a ENC not quilt with a raster chart at the same time, or vice versa.
  7. But as a kind of inconsistency will a raster quilt with CM93 if no rasters are available beside another raster chart. Very handy!
  8. To swap chart family to be shown you have to click a chart bar belonging to desired chart family.

Why are chart sections missing from the display?

If you are actually asking why you don't see the chart cell adjacent to the one being displayed as well, it is because you have disabled quilting and are in single chart mode, to switch back, press “q” or use the hamburger icon in the lower right corner to invoke the chart canvas options menu and turn quilting back on.

Charts used to show, but using 3.0.2 and later, they no longer work.

  1. OpenCPN used to display charts with an unknown projection as a Mercator chart. The same thing applies to an “UNKNOWN” or not recognized geodetic datum, where OpenCPN used to default to WGS84.
  2. This is no longer the case. If OpenCPN don't recognize the chart projection, it will not be displayed.
    • Potentially serious errors are thus avoided.
    • The event is logged in the opencpn.log.
    • Users may run into problems if a chart projection is stated as “UNKNOWN” even though it really is a prefect Mercator chart.
  3. Unfortunately, some conversion tools take a shortcut and don't enter the “PR” tag in the kap-chart-header correctly.
    • The projection of a chart can always be found, and the “PR=UNKNOWN” should always be avoided.

Official charts that OpenCPN really can't display, with a latitude < 70 degrees north/south, are very few indeed. Really only a handful of legacy, Gnomonic, large scale charts. Charts with “UNKNOWN” or blank geodetic datum are best avoided, they may be dangerously inaccurate.

My charts "Senc" files are growing bigger and bigger (1.5gb). What can I do?

Anything in the SENC directory may be deleted while OpenCPN is stopped. The required files will be recreated as needed.

KAP files can be zoomed in but zoom out (with scroll wheel or the +/- buttons) and the chart reverts to the CM93 background

Turn quilting off (keyboard “q”) and you can zoom in or out as much as you like on a kap. I have a lot of overlapping charts including vector types and this is what I do, or as cagney says, the chart will change per zoom..the which is fine unless you want to stay on a particular chart. Another way would be to set up “Chart groups”…